Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) is done following orders after faulty secret intelligence keeps putting him and his men in dangerous situation after dangerous situation with nothing to show for it. Miller is hunting down WMDs in Saddam Hussein's Iraq  but has come up with zilch. Before being led on another wild goose chase, Miller partners up with a CIA official on a quest for the truth. The reason we were led to Iraq was because we were led to believe in these WMD's, but 7 years later we all know there weren't any there.  What director Paul Greengass and Academy Award-winner Brian Helgeland have done with the book "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone", is taken an equal mix of fact and grand conspiracy/fantastic wishful thinking and created a taut suspenseful action packed thinking man's movie.

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Damon is as versatile of a leading man as anyone could hope for. He has been soft spoken and creepy (Talented Mr. Ripley), fat and dumb (The Informant), and in the Green Zone he channels his inner Jason Bourne as a man wronged and on a mission to be righted. There are also solid performances from Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, and Amy Ryan. The standout supporter in the film has to be Khalid Abdalla as Freddie, whom you might remember from Greengrass's riveting 9/11 picture United 93.   Greengrass has recruited the Academy Award-nominated Hurt Locker  cinematographer Barry Ackroyd to unload a familiar but well-used bag of tricks. Like all Greengrass films, the camera work is uptight, shaky, and oftentimes disorienting. But this was used to the pictures benefit as we never lose sight of the action, and the intensity never lets up.  

Could you argue that the plot is overly complex, convoluted, or flat-out ridiculous? I suppose that all depends on your ability to follow the narrative and accept what ideas the film throws your way. But even if you don't enjoy the political agenda of the film, it's hard to deny that Greengrass isn't an excellent action director who can bring you to the edge of your seat with tension.  The Green Zone may not be the best movie of the year, but it certainly is one of the smartest and intense action films I've seen in a while.

--Greg MacLennan